Law Firm Intake Process: Step-by-Step for UK Firms

What is a law firm intake process and why does it matter?

An intake process is the sequence of steps that turns a first contact into an instruction. It starts when someone phones, fills in a form, sends an email or messages the firm. It ends when you open a matter or close the enquiry with a reason. Intake matters because it sits between your marketing spend and your fee income. A firm can attract plenty of enquiries and still lose them through slow replies, unclear next steps or a confusing first call. It also matters for regulation. The SRA Code of Conduct requires you to identify who you are acting for, give clients information in a way they can understand, and avoid acting where there is an own-interest conflict or a significant risk of one. A clear process makes those duties part of normal routine, not an afterthought. It also gives new staff a script to follow and makes cover during holidays simpler.

What are the eight steps?

The eight steps below suit most small and mid-sized firms, from a high-street practice to a specialist team. They are a framework, not a rule, so adapt the detail to your practice area and your size. A firm that handles urgent criminal matters will compress the early steps into a single phone call, while a private client firm may spread them over several days. What matters is that every step exists, that someone owns it and that you can see where each enquiry is at any moment. Write the steps down in a one-page process that new starters can follow on their first day. Ask your COLP to confirm that the checks match your firm's policies and the SRA rules that apply to your work. Then put the owner and a target time against each step, and review them with the team every quarter.

How should you capture and qualify enquiries?

Capture means every route into the firm ends up in one place. Phone, web forms, email, live chat and Google Business Profile messages should all create a record, even if the record is a simple entry in a shared log. Qualification is a short check on what the person needs and whether you can help. Ask a few questions: the type of matter, how urgent it is and the best way to contact them. Keep the first conversation light. Do not ask for the full story by form or email, because it is rarely needed at this stage and raises privacy and confidentiality questions. The ICO says that when you collect personal data directly, for example through a web form, you must give people privacy information at the time you collect it, so place a link to your privacy notice next to the form. If the work is not something you do, say so kindly and, where appropriate, suggest where else the person can look.

What checks belong in the process?

Decide which checks happen, when and who does them, and write it down. The SRA Code says you do not act if there is an own-interest conflict or a significant risk of one, and it deals with other conflicts separately. A conflict check is therefore needed before you act, and most firms run it once they have the names of the people involved. Other checks, such as identity checks, depend on the work and your firm's policies, so ask your COLP and compliance officer to set them out. Avoid collecting sensitive details before you need them. Make sure the person doing each check knows what to do if the result is not clear, and who decides. Record the date and result on the matter or enquiry record. If you use AI tools to summarise calls or notes, the SRA's August 2026 notice says client information should only be entered into an AI system with suitable safeguards, and that responsibility remains with the firm.

How do you explain fees and terms?

Fee information should be clear, in plain English and given before the client commits. The SRA Code requires you to give clients information in a way they can understand. For no win, no fee and similar arrangements in high-volume consumer claims, the SRA's January 2026 notice says information about the agreement must be given before signing and must not be hidden in small print or buried in terms and conditions. It also lists costs and deductions that clients should have explained. For certain types of work, the Transparency Rules require costs information to be published on your website, so what you say in the consultation should match what the website says. Use the same wording in your client care documents. Offer to answer questions, and keep a note of what was explained. Our guide to no win, no fee advertising covers the advertising side. This is general information, not legal advice.

What goes wrong most often?

Intake rarely fails because of one big mistake. It fails through small gaps that add up. An enquiry arrives and two people each assume the other will reply. A fee earner is in court and nobody picks up their messages. The conflict check happens after the first long conversation, which wastes time and can create awkwardness. Fee information is explained quickly and differently by each person. A client who says they will think about it is never contacted again, or is chased too hard. Lost enquiries are not recorded, so nobody learns why. You can find most of these by tracing one real enquiry through the process, step by step, and asking at each point who had it and what they did next. Fix the biggest gap first, rather than redesigning everything at once, and check again a month later.

• No clear owner at each step
• Checks done late or inconsistently
• Fee explanations that vary from person to person
• No record of why enquiries were lost
• Follow-up that is either missing or too pushy

How do you measure and improve intake?

Measure the steps, not just the result. Count the enquiries received, the time to first reply, the share qualified, the share that reach a consultation, the share that sign and the reasons for those that do not. Record lost enquiries and the reason, such as "not our work", "no answer", "chose another firm" or "cost". The reasons are the most useful data you have, because they show where to improve. Look at the numbers monthly and walk through three real enquiries from start to finish each quarter, as if you were the client. Small changes often help: a clearer voicemail, a shorter form, a better first reply, a standard fee explanation. Software can hold the record and automate reminders, and we cover that in our guide on intake systems. Keep the human steps human. Link the results to your marketing using our guide to lead tracking.

Next step

If you want help turning this into a working process, book a free audit. We are an operations partner for law firms, and we look at how enquiries are captured, answered and recorded. See also our pages on intake systems and enquiry conversion.